Job evidences one of the signs of his righteousness in 30:25, “Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?”
I wonder how many of us could really say this and mean it? Do we really care about those whose lives are hard, or who are needy, in the same way that Job did?

Job said he “wept” for the one whose life was hard. A good question to ask ourselves is, “When is the last time I wept tears for the hurts of someone else?” — or are our tears reserved for our own calamities? Is our soul really “grieved” for the needy?

Years ago, in his book A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens wrote: “Second hand cares, like second hand clothes, come easily off and on.” In other words, is your “sympathy” for others short-lived? Do you hear about someone’s hurt, shake your head — and almost instantly forget about them, as you along your merry way? Or do you really carry that burden along with them, your soul “grieved” as Job’s was?

“Every man for himself” may be the way of the world, but it is not the way of the people of God. The Lord witnessed of Job that he was a “blameless and upright man” and that there was “none like him on the earth.” The compassion Job demonstrated towards others is undoubtedly one of the things that made him precious to God. May He see that same heart in us for the hurts and needs of others, as He saw in His servant Job.